Chris Christie slams culture wars, says government is not 'a better parent than parents'

WASHINGTON − Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has positioned himself as the GOP candidate ready to take on the education culture war through one particular avenue: riding it out in the middle.

In recent months, there have been clashes between parents and state governments over how much oversight each party should have in a child’s education − ranging from book bans to instruction over gender identity and other hot-button issues.

During an interview with USA TODAY, Christie said that while 2024 GOP rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy approach the issue from two “totally different” perspectives, they both "believe government is the answer."

Last month, Murphy's administration sued three school districts in New Jersey for adopting policies to notify parents when a child shows signs of changing gender identity, according to Politico. An attorney for one of the school boards argued that keeping parents in the dark about such matters violates the U.S. Supreme Court case law that parents have the right to control how they raise their children.

"I certainly am disgusted by what's going on in my own state," Christie said.

On the other hand, DeSantis' legal feud with Disney − which began after the state sued the governor for allegedly taking away its ability to self-govern − is another end of the spectrum that Christie suggests is too extreme.

“I always thought that's what liberals did…that's what I was taught that liberals thought ‘If you disagree, I can use the government to punish you and change your mind,’” Christie said. “Now, all of a sudden, that's what conservatives or people who call themselves conservatives are doing.”

Christie said that he doesn’t know “when we got to the point where we thought that government was a better parent than parents.”

“I think both sides suffer from this malady that somehow a governor understands better what should be available to a child than their own mother or father,” Christie said. “So, you know, my view on this is that when it goes beyond that, and in some instances it has, that's a problem. And it's wrong."

But beyond that, Christie said he believes the core of the issue is the question of both who should be in charge of the education and who should have the knowledge.

"I think that's the core of the issue," Christie said. "And I think we need to resolve that issue. And my view would be that we need to resolve in favor of parents."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chris Christie 'disgusted' by culture war, blasts DeSantis, Murphy